Self-reported sleep fragmentation and sleep duration and their association with cognitive function in PROTECT, a large digital community-based cohort of people over 50

Data Availability Statement: This study is based on data collected in the PROTECT study: https://www.protectstudy.org.uk/. PROTECT data can be shared with investigators outside the PROTECT team after request and approval by the PROTECT Steering Committee.Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Objective: Sleep is vital for normal cognitive function in daily life, but is commonly disrupted in older adults. Poor sleep can be detrimental to mental and physical health, including cognitive function. This study assessed the association between self-reported short (9 h) sleep duration and sleep fragmentation (3≥ nightly awakenings) in cognitive function. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 8508 individuals enroled in the PROTECT study aged 50 and above formed the basis of the univariate linear regression analysis conducted on four cognitive outcomes assessing visuospatial episodic memory (VSEM), spatial working memory, verbal working memory (VWM), and verbal reasoning (VR). Results: Short (ß = −0.153, 95% CI [−0.258, −0.048], p = 0.004) and long sleep duration (ß = −0.459, 95% CI [−0.826, −0.091], p = 0.014) were significantly associated with poorer cognitive performance in VWM. Long sleep duration (ß = −2.986, 95% CI [−5.453, −0.518], p = 0.018) was associated with impaired VR. Short sleep (ß = −0.133, 95% CI [−0.196, −0.069], p = <0.001) and sleep fragmentation (ß = −0.043, 95% CI [−0.085, −0.001], p = 0.043) were associated with reduced VSEM. These associations remained significant when including other established risk factors for dementia and cognitive decline (e.g., depression, hypertension). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that short and long sleep durations and fragmented sleep, may be risk factors for a decline in cognitive processes such as working memory, VR and episodic memory thus might be potential targets for interventions to maintain cognitive health in ageing.This paper represents independent research coordinated by the University of Exeter and King's College London and is funded in part by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. This research was also supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Exeter Clinical Research Facility. This study was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Exeter Biomedical Research Centre

Tomato TFT1 Is Required for PAMP-Triggered Immunity and Mutations that Prevent T3S Effector XopN from Binding to TFT1 Attenuate Xanthomonas Virulence

XopN is a type III effector protein from Xanthomonas campestris pathovar vesicatoria that suppresses PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) in tomato. Previous work reported that XopN interacts with the tomato 14-3-3 isoform TFT1; however, TFT1's role in PTI and/or XopN virulence was not determined. Here we show that TFT1 functions in PTI and is a XopN virulence target. Virus-induced gene silencing of TFT1 mRNA in tomato leaves resulted in increased growth of Xcv ΔxopN and Xcv ΔhrpF demonstrating that TFT1 is required to inhibit Xcv multiplication. TFT1 expression was required for Xcv-induced accumulation of PTI5, GRAS4, WRKY28, and LRR22 mRNAs, four PTI marker genes in tomato. Deletion analysis revealed that the XopN C-terminal domain (amino acids 344–733) is sufficient to bind TFT1. Removal of amino acids 605–733 disrupts XopN binding to TFT1 in plant extracts and inhibits XopN-dependent virulence in tomato, demonstrating that these residues are necessary for the XopN/TFT1 interaction. Phos-tag gel analysis and mass spectrometry showed that XopN is phosphorylated in plant extracts at serine 688 in a putative 14-3-3 recognition motif. Mutation of S688 reduced XopN's phosphorylation state but was not sufficient to inhibit binding to TFT1 or reduce XopN virulence. Mutation of S688 and two leucines (L64,L65) in XopN, however, eliminated XopN binding to TFT1 in plant extracts and XopN virulence. L64 and L65 are required for XopN to bind TARK1, a tomato atypical receptor kinase required for PTI. This suggested that TFT1 binding to XopN's C-terminal domain might be stabilized via TARK1/XopN interaction. Pull-down and BiFC analyses show that XopN promotes TARK1/TFT1 complex formation in vitro and in planta by functioning as a molecular scaffold. This is the first report showing that a type III effector targets a host 14-3-3 involved in PTI to promote bacterial pathogenesis

Prospect theory, mitigation and adaptation to climate change

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges in current environmental policy. Appropriate policies intended to stimulate efficient adaptation and mitigation should not exclusively rely on the assumption of the homo oeconomicus, but take advantage of well-researched alternative behavioural patterns. Prospect theory provides a number of climate-relevant insights, such as the notion that evaluations of outcomes are reference dependent, and the relevance of perceived certainty of outcomes. This paper systematically reviews what prospect theory can offer to analyse mitigation and adaptation. It is shown that accounting for reference dependence and certainty effects contributes to a better understanding of some well-known puzzles in the climate debate, including (but not limited to) the different uptake of mitigation and adaptation amongst individuals and nations, the role of technical vs. financial adaptation, and the apparent preference for hard protection measures in coastal adaptation. Finally, concrete possibilities for empirical research on these effects are proposed

The benefit of directly comparing autism and schizophrenia for revealing mechanisms of social cognitive impairment

Autism and schizophrenia share a history of diagnostic conflation that was not definitively resolved until the publication of the DSM-III in 1980. Though now recognized as heterogeneous disorders with distinct developmental trajectories and dissociative features, much of the early nosological confusion stemmed from apparent overlap in certain areas of social dysfunction. In more recent years, separate but substantial literatures have accumulated for autism and schizophrenia demonstrating that abnormalities in social cognition directly contribute to the characteristic social deficits of both disorders. The current paper argues that direct comparison of social cognitive impairment can highlight shared and divergent mechanisms underlying pathways to social dysfunction, a process that can provide significant clinical benefit by informing the development of tailored treatment efforts. Thus, while the history of diagnostic conflation between autism and schizophrenia may have originated in similarities in social dysfunction, the goal of direct comparisons is not to conflate them once again but rather to reveal distinctions that illuminate disorder-specific mechanisms and pathways that contribute to social cognitive impairment

Troponin T-release associates with cardiac radiation doses during adjuvant left-sided breast cancer radiotherapy

Background Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) for left-sided breast cancer increases cardiac morbidity and mortality. For the heart, no safe radiation threshold has been established. Troponin T is a sensitive marker of myocardial damage. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of left-sided breast cancer RT on serum high sensitivity troponin T (hscTnT) levels and its association with cardiac radiation doses and echocardiographic parameters. Methods A total of 58 patients with an early stage, left-sided breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who received adjuvant breast RT without prior chemotherapy were included in this prospective, non-randomized study. Serum samples were taken before, during and after RT. An increase of hscTnT >30 % was predefined as significant. A comprehensive 2D echocardiograph and electrocardiogram (ECG) were performed before and after RT. Dose-volume histograms (DVHs) were generated for different cardiac structures. Results The hscTnT increased during RT from baseline in 12/58 patients (21 %). Patients with increased hscTnT values (group A, N = 12) had significantly higher radiation doses for the whole heart (p = 0.02) and left ventricle (p = 0.03) than patients without hscTnT increase (group B, N = 46). For the left anterior descending artery (LAD), differences between groups A and B were found in volumes receiving 15 Gy (p = 0.03) and 20 Gy (p = 0.03) Furthermore, after RT, the interventricular septum thickened (p = 0.01), and the deceleration time was prolonged (p = 0.008) more in group A than in group B. Conclusions The increase in hscTnT level during adjuvant RT was positively associated with the cardiac radiation doses for the whole heart and LV in chemotherapy-naive breast cancer patients. Whether these acute subclinical changes increase the risk of excessive long-term cardiovascular morbidity or mortality, will be addressed in the follow-up of our patients.BioMed Central open acces

Fish for food and nutrition security in Ghana: Challenges and opportunities

Fish is an important dietary source of micronutrients, particularly in low-and middle-income countries. In Ghana, effective management of fish and the fisheries is essential for food, economic and nutrition security and is critical towards achieving many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals especially those pertaining to hunger, poverty, gender equality and life under water. Ghana has experienced significant economic growth in the last few decades, but increasing inequality, uncertainties in fish availability and unsustainable management of the fisheries are challenging local food and nutrition security. This literature review examines and evaluates the role of fish and fisheries in supporting FNS in Ghana, and highlights the lack of focus on fish in the literature with regard to regional food security and fisheries governance. Our review highlights the importance of ensuring the viability of small fish populations to enhance micronutrient availability and counteract micronutrient deficiencies in Ghana. Additionally, strengthening women's role in decision making and promoting female education and empowerment in the fisheries sector is an important strategy towards enhancing FNS in the region.publishedVersio

The phagocytic capacity of isolated leucocytes is high.

<p>FL1 (green bead fluorescence) histograms (left) showing phagocytic capacity of PBL (A), HKL (B) and SL (C) incubated with fluorescent beads (1 µm) for 4 h. Increased peak fluorescence indicates an increased number of ingested beads. Picture insets show cells stained with Colorrapid from PBL, HKL and SL samples that have ingested various numbers of beads. The left dot plots show cells in the red (cells with 1 bead) blue (cells with two beads) and green (cells with 3 or more beads) and black (non-phagocytic cells) regions; cells with a higher number of ingested beads have a higher granularity (SSC-value). The dot plots to the right show the light scatter properties of the cells incubated without beads at the instrument settings used for the phagocytosis assay.</p

Lumpsucker kidney used for isolation of leucocytes.

<p>Dissected kidney where the section used for isolation of leucocytes from the left cranial lobe is marked.</p

Isolated leucocytes show strong respiratory burst activity upon stimulation with PMA.

<p>Flow cytometry of respiratory burst in leucocytes from PBL (A), HKL (B) and SL (C). FL1 (green fluorescence) histograms show RHO fluorescence after PMA stimulation. Stimulated cells: 0.1 µg ml⁻¹ of PMA, red line and 1 µg ml⁻¹ of PMA, blue line. Controls: Non-stimulated cells without PMA and with DHR (grey filled peak), used for determination of limit between RHO positive and negative cells. Positive control for oxidation of DHR by H₂O₂ to RHO (grey line). Other negative controls: without PMA and DHR (aqua line), with PMA and without DHR (green line) and with H₂O₂, but without PMA and DHR (yellow line). These negative controls without DHR have low fluorescent intensity. Horisontal bars indicate RHO positive cells. The corresponding size/granularity (FCS/SSC) dot plots of PBL, HKL and SL show RHO positive cells (red) for PMA (1 µg ml⁻¹) stimulated cells.</p